Women Arrested for Sit-In at Israeli Consulate

In an inspiring bit of news amid so much horror and bloodshed in Gaza, a group of brave women activists have just been arrested for staging an old-fashioned sit-in.

As part of ongoing protests against Israel’s assault on Gaza, a group of Jewish women have occupied the Israeli consulate in Toronto to protest the violence and destruction that is being waged in their name.

The group- which includes social justice activist and professor Judy Rebick, filmmaker Cathy Gulkin, psychoanalyst and president of Science for Peace Judith Deutsch, fimmaker B.H. Yael, and Canadian-Israeli peace activist Smadar Carmon - is being arrested by the RCMP for staging a sit-in.

They are demanding that Israel stop its military assault, lift its 18-month siege on the Gaza Strip, and allow desperately-needed humanitarian aid into the territory. According to their press statement, “Israel has been carrying out a full-scale military assault on the Gaza Strip since December 27, 2008. At least 660 people have been killed and 3000 injured in the air strikes and in the ground invasion that began on January 3, 2009. Israel has ignored international calls for a ceasefire and is refusing to allow food, adequate medical supplies and other necessities of life into the Gaza Strip.”

“There are Jews that do not follow the Israeli line and are sickened by what is happening in Gaza,” Cathy Gulkin told the Toronto Star.